BETTY "LUPITA" BOOP

Ernesto's heart was beating so hard, the booming sound in his ears was all that could be heard. Trying to catch his breath, he rose his eyes to the sky. The stars lit up the black canvas of night. To the left he admired the yellow-orange, fingernail clipping of a moon. He was entranced by her beauty.

She consumed every thought, every moment and every dream he had. Ernesto tried several different places to observe her, but in this storm most locations were unshielded. There was no real place to escape the turbulent downpour and still have a clear vision of her. Thunder, loudly, cracked and Ernesto practically jumped right out of his own skin. As the lightning ignited the sky, the flashes of light helped him negotiate the terrain.

Creeping through the shadows, Ernesto was now as close as he could be to her window. The sky had been so gray earlier in the day. By the afternoon, he watched the black clouds roll in. Ernesto loved overcast days, but today it went from gray skies to a full-blown storm. He was completely drenched. He couldn't feel each raindrop anymore, he was just soaked. Ernesto's eyes were intently locked in on her.

She was simply gorgeous! The way the moonlight made her neck glow, as if begging to be choked. Her long dark hair was out of its ponytail cascading down her back. He longed to grab a fistful of her hair, yank her head back and forcefully bite down on her perky little nipples.

Ernesto didn't know how much longer he could hold his demons at bay. In the beginning, he saw her five days a week at 7am and it was enough to fill his appetite. A year into the relationship, he had created in his head, five times a week would no longer suffice. He was absolutely obsessed with her. He needed more! Ernesto was averaging seeing her ten times a week. 7am breakfast and 1pm lunch at The Golden Griddle. The diner closed at 2pm, so he would finish his lunch then sit in his car across the street and watch her clean up. Most days he would follow her home, saturated in desire. He wanted to ravish her but had not found the perfect moment yet.

Two years ago, Ernesto found the woman of his dreams serving up biscuits and gravy at The Golden Griddle. She was new, he had never seen her before. He couldn't wait for her to serve him.

As she buzzed around the diner, delivering hot plates with a menagerie of breakfast items on them, Ernesto had looked over every square inch of her body. His temperature was increasing rapidly, as his desire for this woman grew with an unyielding force. He needed her! He needed her to get to his table immediately!

Ernesto was done waiting. He was about to shout to get her attention. Before he could, Reba a waitress who had worked at The Golden Griddle since its doors opened in 1972, was asking him, "Good morning Ernesto, will you be having your regular?" Beyond irritated, Ernesto snapped back, "Oh no! Not you! Not today! I WANT HER!" Reba was visibly offended, biting her lip she replied, "Suit yourself," and strolled away.

The customers seated close to Ernesto's booth, were staring and whispers hissed through the intensity of that encounter. He saw the new girl and could not contain himself. "Excuse me! Hey, ah, Betty Boop! Could yah come down here and take my order?"

Lupita's cheeks were burning. She thought, what a horrible first day this was turning out to be. She was sure if she blinked the tears were guaranteed to fall. Ernesto continued his cat calling. Quickly she swallowed her emotions and walked over to Ernesto's booth with confidence, in her red Steve Madden heels. Inside she was dying of embarrassment, but there was no way she would give him the gratification of her emotions.

"Good morning Mack, what could I get you?" Ernesto said, "Hey Betty Boop, slow down. First, you could give me your name. Second, my name's Ernesto, NOT Mack." Clicking her gum and tapping her perfectly red manicured nails on the table, she said with all the sass she could muster, "It's Lupita." Ernesto chuckled, "Alright Betty Boop, I'll take biscuits and gravy with a black coffee." "Alright Mack, you got it." Lupita replied.

Ernesto had undressed Lupita with his eyes multiple times. He wanted to rip that white ruffled apron off her and tie her up with it. These thoughts increased the pressure of the zipper holding him back, the pressure was growing inside of him as well. Ernesto needed to relieve himself. Breakfast had lost its appeal, now Betty Boop was all he wanted to eat.

With the tray held high, steam was rising up from his plate of biscuits and gravy, Ernesto watched as Lupita's hips swayed back and forth. The closer she got, the fire in his loins grew. By the time she approached his booth, he practically yelled at her. "I need to take that to go! Any chance I could take you too?" Taken back, her facial expressions were spoken loud and clear. Ernesto completely missed all the cues. "Oh, oh! I get it, it's still your shift, right? Ok, ok! I'll see you tomorrow morning at 7am."

When the bell on the door rang and Ernesto's feet touched the pavement outside, Lupita let out a sigh of relief. A shutter of disgust swept over her, when she realized he would be the first customer she would be serving tomorrow morning.

Ernesto was the last thing Lupita wanted to think about. Miserably she recounted the relationship (as customer and waitress) she had endured. She struggled to calculate approximately how many times Ernesto had disrupted her life on the past two years...150 times! His daily presence made Lupita want to quit. Every visit was filled with flirting, lewd comments and endless pressure from him to engage in a relationship.

Recently, she swore she had seen Ernesto watching her from a green 1970 Duster, across the street from the diner. Once it registered that, that green Duster was his, she started seeing it everywhere. Panic set in as she was starting to get the whole picture...he had been following her! How long had Ernesto been stalking her? Lupita tried to convince herself she was just being paranoid. Over the course of the next four weeks, she saw that green Duster everywhere! It was either in her rear view mirror, parked across the street from the diner or parked outside her house.

Deciding she was not just being paranoid, the terror overwhelmed her.... What was Ernesto capable of? It was decided, tomorrow she was going to call into work sick and go to The First Judicial District Court of New Mexico to file for a restraining order. Lupita really believed this was going to be the solution to all the problems Ernesto had brought into her life.

Everyday that week, the skies were gray and darkness came early. Damn monsoon season! The wind was howling, as the rain was dumping down. Laying in her bed trying to fall asleep Lupita's mind was running rampant. Someone was outside her window. With each scratchy sound, her breath shortened, she couldn't take it any longer.

Dialing 911, Lupita's hands were shaking so badly, when the operator came onto the line to ask her questions. She was so scared and frustrated! Lupita cried out, "Someone is outside my bedroom window! I'm fearing for my life! It has to be that creep, Ernesto! He's coming to kill me... or, or, or something worse!" The operator was trying to bring some reason to the call, while assuring Lupita that there was a unit being dispatched to her now. The operator kept her on the line, trying to contain the hysteria.

The flashing lights from the police cruiser invaded the darkness that filled her bedroom. An hour and a half later, Lupita felt no safer. The police officers had found nothing. She felt ridiculous and terror stricken.

Two days later, she started receiving hate mail (never postmarked or even in an envelope). Each morning that followed when Lupita unlocked the door and slid into The Golden Griddle, a new threatening letter had been slipped in through the mail slot. Four days and four letters later her fear had shifted to neurosis. Ernesto wanted to instill insurmountable terror in her, she had taken his daily routine away from him. Due to that stupid restraining order, Ernesto couldn't even eat breakfast! How could Lupita steal his diner! His anger was boiling over and her fear was crippling.

The shift felt so long. She just didn't feel safe anymore. So as soon as she clocked out, Lupita was once again going to talk to the police. Someone had to do something about this! Officer Mendel took her statement, looked at the four letters and the restraining order but he said nothing to give her any peace of mind. Her fear flowed so freely, she was starting to give up.

Pulling out of the police station parking lot, Lupita looked into her rear view mirror and that nightmare of a Duster was trailing closely behind her. She sped up...the Duster sped up! She turned left...it turned left! She couldn't be imagining this! So she took a sharp right, looked in the rear view mirror and sure enough that green Duster was still right on her tail.

Lupita couldn't handle any more of this! Ernesto was everywhere! At this point, the police had been out to her house three times. She felt like, everyone thought she was a "boy who cried wolf." No one believed her. She was beginning to feel crazy, and no relief could be found.

Lupita hadn't slept in five days. The storm was strong, rain poured down, thunder cracked loudly and lightening lit up her yard. She knew it! Ernesto was out there! Dialing 911 again, she felt like no one believed her, so she just hung up. It all seemed so pointless. Lupita's paranoia was off the charts. She couldn't even trust her own observations anymore.

After crying through a long hot shower, Lupita craved relief. She opened the medicine cabinet looking for NyQuil when she saw half a bottle of Hydrocodone, that had been in there for at least six months. Lupita climbed into bed and took every pill in that bottle.

Huttled in a large bush just outside her window, soaking wet, Ernesto began to touch himself. The lightening lit everything up and he saw her lifeless body and the empty pill bottle sprawled out on her bed. No! No, he thought. He wanted her! Not this!

By the time he broke in, Lupita was no longer breathing. One part of him wanted to take her to the hospital, but the part of him that didn't want to be arrested decided against it. Ernesto stumbled out of Lupita's house, through the yard, across the street to sit, cry and yell in his green Duster.

Ernesto couldn't just start the car and leave. He felt obligated to her. He also needed closure, so he had no intention of pulling away until Lupita was rolled out in bodybag. A few tears were shed as the woman of his dreams was being loaded into the back of the ambulance.

Three days later, Ernesto was seated at his usual booth at The Golden Griddle sipping on a hot black coffee, awaiting his steaming hot biscuits and gravy. Newspaper clinched tightly in two sweaty hands, Ernesto read Lupita's obituary. It excited him that she was going to be buried five blocks from his house.

Ernesto wore a black suit and black derby cap with dark sunglasses when he attended her funeral. He relished in the thought she could never escape him again. Ernesto and Lupita would be together for the rest of his life. Everyday at 7am, 1pm and 8pm Ernesto spent his breakfast, lunch and dinner with the woman of his dreams. Never could she escape him again...his little Betty "Lupita" Boop.